The field of the disclosure relates generally to data conversions and, more particularly, to a network-based system and method for dynamically processing and loading data in an Extensible Markup Language (XML) format into a virtual computing machine configured to run a JAVA™ program during runtime.
To communicate with one another, computers use various protocols and message formats. The Extensible Markup Language, otherwise known as XML, has become a standard for data transmission and inter-application communication. XML is a markup language that defines a set of rules for encoding files in a format which is both human-readable and machine-readable. XML data can be readily transmitted between computers using any type of data transmission media. XML data can be processed using computer programs and other suitably configured applications.
A XML file is generally required to conform to a particular standard to ensure that the XML file can be easily exchanged and understood between multiple independent parties. To ensure that the XML file conforms to a standard, the XML file may be validated against a XML schema. The XML schema is a set of rules to which a XML file must conform if it is to be considered valid (i.e., the file conforms to the standard). The XML schema defines the structure, constraints, data types, and relationships of the data elements that constitute data contained inside the XML file.
The XML Schema definition language (XSD) is the current World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) specification for XML schemas. An XSD file defines a type of XML file in terms of constraints upon what elements and attributes may appear, the relationship between the elements and the attributes, what types of data may be included, and other things.
Since the processing of XML has become a standard function in many computing environments, it is often necessary to receive data from a XML file and transform the data such that the data can be handled by a JAVA™ Virtual Machine (JVM). The JVM is an abstract computing machine that enables a computer to run a JAVA™ program. XML data binding involves binding the schema for a XML file into a set of JAVA™ classes that represents the schema and can be executed on the JVM. One method that is useful for XML data binding is the JAVA™ Architecture for Data Binding (JAXB), which compiles an XML schema into JAVA™ classes. These generated classes also ensure that the constraints expressed in the schema are enforced in the resulting methods and JAVA™ language data types.
When using XML data binding for data format conversions, typically the data structures that will be used for data binding are defined and added to the code during compile time. Any changes to the existing data structures or addition of new data structures requires code modification and recompilation, followed by a redeployment of the code in a production environment. However, this recompilation and redeployment of the code is problematic for high-traffic, high-availability computing systems.
Therefore, in an effort to avoid this recompilation and redeployment of the code, new systems and methods are needed to communicate new data structures and modifications to existing data structures during runtime.